controversial-articles

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The Failure Of The Gujarat Government

30th October 2022, this day was a deploring day for India and its citizens, on this day the Morbi Bridge in Gujrat collapsed. Morbi Bridge was a suspension bridge build in the 19th century during the British rule in India by Waghji Thakore(Local Maharaja). The bridge  was present on the Machhu River spanning over 230m long. At the time of the Bridge collapse there were almost 600 people present on the bridge, thrice the limit, in spite of the warning, a large crowd still gathered on the bridge, and many the people there began shaking it, which ultimately led to the bridge's collapse. While 141 people have been declared dead and many still missing.

How did it happen?

Given how old the bridge was, it was only logical that it was closed. However, the bridge was reopened on October 26. But the bridge collapsed four days after it had been inaugurated. It was a tragic incident that resulted in almost 140 deaths. An immediate search operation was launched to locate and save the more than 200 people who were inside at the moment of the bridges collapse.

In 2008 the contract for the bridge was given to the Oreva Group. The Oreva Group was allotted 2 Cr Rupees for reparations for the Morbi Bridge. It was undoubtedly incorrect for the Oreva Group to accept the contract, but how can you suppose a company like the Oreva Group would take on a risky project like this in a subject they have no prior experience in? Moreover, the government is not so stupid to award such a risky contract to a watch manufacturer. Perhaps the Oreva Group had engineers who had repaired bridges in the past, giving them the confidence to repair the bridge; otherwise, it doesn't even make sense that they would have accepted the contract. 

The cables on the suspension bridge were rusty, and the only repairs made to replace the floor with aluminium, yes, aluminium. Exasperatingly, not even the worst management mistakes result in 150 deaths, yet this terrible catastrophe left almost 150 people dead. 

The Action Taken By The Government

The Gujarat government has so far detained nine individuals in accordance with Sections 304, 308, and 114 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Two people who had connections to the Oreva Group have been detained along with two contractors, two ticket clerks, and three security guards.

Is this a joke that the Gujarat Government arrested the ticket collector? They did so in the pretext of taking action. Given the impending Gujarat Legislative Assembly Elections, it is a failure on the part of both the Gujarat Government and the BJP. The Gujarat Government has announced compensation for the dead, injured and families which were affected. But can they bring back the dead, can they give a child his mother or father back, can they give a mother her child back, no they cannot. The BJP has to accept their mistake. 

It's not about the power or money, it's about responsibility and trust in which the Gujarat Government has failed itself. Once shattered, trust is something that can never be repaired, and the Gujarat Government has broken it. They have failed to apprehend the offenders, to safeguard their citizens, to fulfil their obligations, and as a result, the Gujarati people no longer have faith in them.

Give the Gujarat government one more chance and let's hope that such an accident won't occur again. Past examples of such management failures include the Bhopal Gas Leak, Kashmir Hindu Genocide (which the government at the time actually encouraged), the 1954 Kumbh Mela Stampede, the 2008 Mumbai Attacks, and countless others that resulted in far more fatalities than the Morbi Bridge.

Om Shanti Om

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India's Relations With the US and Russia.

Since the start of the '2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine', India has been in a formidable position between the two world powers the US and Russia, in a quite ahistorical way or the other. India has good relations with both the US and Russia, but due to Russia's declaration of war on Ukraine, the US and Russia are ready to rout each other, and India is getting mashed in between them. According to the normal public, India should be neutral in this, but that's not exactly the case and India is indirectly supporting Russia in this war. Let me tell you why.

Historical Relations of India with Russia and the US.

For us to know, why India is supporting Russia in all this let's take a look back in time. When India got its independence from the British, our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, tried to make India a socialist country, and most of India's leaders were influenced by socialist ideology and impressed by China and U.S.S.R, thus Pakistan( India's borne enemy) got the chance to seal its ties with the US, and the US also looked forward to this friendship as it wanted to have an ally to keep a check on USSR and PRC in south Asia.

Even with the ideological difference the US helped India in the 1962 Sino-Indian war, US supplied India with grains as at that time India wasn't independent in grain production and was having a food crisis. But in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the US openly supported Pakistan, it was a great setback in India's and US relations, but things got severe in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war when the US openly supported Pakistan, and even supported Pakistan's war crimes(rapes, genocide, human trafficking) in Bangladesh, and even went as far as sending its 7th fleet to attack India, it wasn't just the US, the fleets of Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy were also sent to attack India, in the midst of all that USSR supported India and sent its nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear warheads. The tensions rose to the point where a world war would have happened. 

After this, for the next 20 years India's relations with the US were at their lowest, but in 1992 after the disintegration of the USSR, when India opened its economy to the world, Europe and the US started putting efforts for their relations with India to get better, as they wanted their companies to step foot in the fresh Indian economy and get cheap labor.

Since then India's relations with the US had been getting better and better, but once again in 2022 when India supported its noble kinsman Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the relations and ties were damaged, and India gained a formidable position against the West, but not so openly for it to defy the West completely.

Which is better the US or Russia

India's relations with the US were selfish and beneficial and thus fragile and can end at any moment, and India also hates the US but currently, neither it has the economy, military power, and geopolitical power to openly defy the US, the US has always been against India in the way or the other, the relations between US and India are built purely due to the fact that the US is more powerful than India

whereas,

the relations between Russia and India are nothing like that, the relations between Russia and India are mutual like a brother looks after a brother, and thus more solid and favorable than the US, and even if India wants to become enemies with Russia, it can't as approximately 70% of the Indian military's weapons warships and cruisers are supplied from Russia.

India's Noble Kinsman, Russia  

Since its independence, India's relations with Russia have always been great and especially after the 1971 war, Russia is like India's very own big brother, which has always helped India out in every situation and protected it in fragile geopolitical situations. Sure sometimes there were problems between them.

 Once a brother, always a brother no matter the distance, no matter the difference, and no matter the issue.

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My Opinion On The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

 On 24 February 2022, the Russian Troops marched into the small nation of Ukraine, setting both the people of Ukraine in utter chaos, as well as the world superpowers. The West retaliated immediately to this bold move by Russian President Vladimir Putin. As of the current time(7.October.2022), the war is still going on, and voluntary troops from different countries of the West have been participating in the War from the side of Ukraine. The Ukrainians are also doing everything in their hands to protect their nation and their freedom.

How, did it all happen?

But, how did it all happen, in an era, where the so-called supreme race of white people, self-proclaimed themselves as civilized and superior? Let's discuss the events which led to this. As we all know, the USSR disintegrated in 1992, after its disintegration, Russia warned all its former territorial states not to join the European Union and the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO), and the West also insured Russia that they won't let them join these organizations, but Ukraine tried to in 2012, so Russia annexed, the Crimean region of Ukraine, but once again Ukraine repeated the same mistake and thus, naturally for its own national security and interest Russia declared war on Ukraine. 

The most hypocritical part of this situation is that NATO and the EU assured Russia that its former territories won't be added to NATO or the EU, but they were still added to these organizations.

The Funds for War

As we all are, known to the fact that the U.S.A sanctioned Russia at the start of this war and the entire Western World is criticizing India for buying oil from Russia. But notice one thing after being sanctioned, Russia is still able to keep up with the war, how? Because the EU is the one funding this war, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, France, Poland, and several other countries in the EU are still importing crude oil, pipeline gas, and coal from Russia for their energy needs. Just recently on July 21st the Nord 1 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany went down due to the lack of maintenance, and the US lifted the sanctions imposed and let the required part be imported to Russia from Canada. Why? Because the German economy would allegedly suffer very significant hardship. 

Gains for Russia

Russia has started this war for its own national interest, so therefore it must gain something out of it, as history has repeatedly taught that, wars and battles don't simply happen for no reason as wars are costly. Through this war, Russia will almost be able to gain complete control over the Black Sea, if it weren't for Turkey, as well as, it will gain control over the fertile farmlands of Ukraine. So this war is a win-win situation for Russia.

Losses for Ukraine

Even though I am in no position to say this, it was one of the worst military decisions in the decade taken by the President of Ukraine 'Volodymyr Zelenskyy', to fight back against Russia, a country which is 28.32 times bigger than Ukraine, which has the world's 3rd strongest military. 

Even if hypotactically Ukraine wins the war now, which it will not, it will have already suffered enormous losses in this war. Millions of its citizens have been displaced, and it has now lost almost all of its infrastructure(roads, buildings, apartments, factories, etc.) now Ukraine is at least pushed 50 years back in the world. 

And if it loses, we all know what will happen. There are no arguments for that.

What's in it for India

Due to this war, there was a rise in inflation in Western countries, especially India's old colonizer the United Kingdom. Since Ukraine was a major wheat producer and exporter in the world, but now due to the war it's not able to export wheat anymore, thus naturally there is a food shortage in the world, and since Russia was a major fossil fuel exporter of the world, but due to the sanctions it's not able to export anymore. Compiling all of this together, with the fact that India is a major wheat producer, Indian diplomacy has managed to set itself in a proper global position, by exporting wheat at a cheap price, as well as by defying the Western countries and standing with its old trustworthy noble kinsman Russia.

Russia's inability to export fossil fuels to Europe is leading the European economy into chaos and slowly leading the European economy to bankruptcy. This is a major gain for the rising Indian economy.

After all, it is well said, "One's loss is one's gain".

Where should India stand

After reading the last topic it is pretty clear, where should India stand, which is neutral. We should maintain good relations with the West also, India is currently in not a position like Russia or China to openly defy the Western powers on a global scale, but since Russia is an old friend of India, we should wish for its victory in this war, as well as for the safety of the Ukrainian people. But out of all this, the most important thing is India's national interest, which is being satisfied by our diplomats and especially India's brand ambassador(Foreign Minister) Dr. S. Jaishankar. At the current moment, we might not be able to see the benefits, but such things are done in a long-term plan, elucidating it, in the near future India and its citizens will greatly profit from the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

In such things, we should be rational not emotional.